Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Preview for the Game on April 18th

Preview for the Game
on April 18th

Texas Rangers (9-5)
at Chicago Cubs (4-9)

The Chicago Cubs will be looking to get their fifth victory
on the season against the Texas Rangers. The game will be played at the
historic Wrigley Field at 8:05pm eastern time. The Cubbies will be sending
Carlos Villanueva to the mound in tomorrow’s game because of the off day on
Monday that they had and because starting pitcher Scott Feldman has some back
pain. Villanueva is off to an incredible start this year by having an era of
0.64, however he still hasn’t have a decision in a game. Tomorrow will be a
tough matchup for Villanueva and provide Cubs fan with what they should expect
from Villanueva this year. If Villanueva can keep Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus
off base, then he should be able to get his first W as a Cubbie.

The opposing probable pitcher will be right-handed pitcher
Justin Grimm, Grimm is getting a start for the Rangers because of the injury to
Matt Harrison. Grimm is not an overpowering pitcher, but has decent control
with his pitching arsenal. The pitches in Grimm’s repertoire are a four seam
fastball in the low-90s, a cutter that is effective, a two-seam fastball that
has some good movement to it and a changeup that he uses to slow down hitters’
bats.

Grimm doesn’t offer the Cubs hitters that tough of a matchup
and it will be necessary for the Cubbies batters need to take advantage of this
favorable matchup. The Cubs can jump on Grimm’s fastballs because he only has
one real breaking ball pitch which would be his slider. I believe the Cub
faithful will see a good performance from David DeJesus in the game tomorrow.

My prediction for tomorrow’s game is that the Cubbies pull
out a win with a score of 7 to 2 and Villanueva gets his first victory this
season. I believe the Cubs hitters will
be too tough for Grimm to get out and Grimm won’t be able to prevent the Cubs
lineup from exploding on the Rangers. My predicted player of the game is Carlos
Villanueva who will go 7 scoreless innings with 8 strikeouts in the game. I
believe that the top of the lineup for the Cubbies will all have a great game
and show the Rangers that the Cubs don’t need a DH to put up big numbers in a
game.